Today we had our final session before the Christmas break and as well as enjoying some creativity with our various resources we enjoyed lunch in front of a log fire!!!

Stephanie was focused on creating a wreath for Christmas and it didn’t take long to see how it would take shape

Once again the bark roller was popular and after dyeing her fabric Fiona was busy applying a coat of white bark which had lots of potential for development.

Monica had bought a mitten Christmas decoration because she liked the design and wondered whether it would give a good print. It didn’t take long to find out and there were plenty of suggestions about how it could be used to make advent calendar bunting etc….

Monica tried out a new stencil and was very pleased with the result….

And it was wonderful to see how Corinne had turned her sample pieces into a delightful wall hanging of autumn colours

Hillary also brought a small Christmas wall hanging that she had recently completed. Beautifully finished and when she was asked where she got the pattern from she replied – it was a picture in a children’s colouring book!

After a hard mornings work it was only right that we all enjoyed lunch, mulled wine and mince pies in front of a log fire

Unusually, today’s Dyeing to Paint was held in Ystradowen Village Hall which mant that there was no going back if any resources were forgotten. So….. there was virtually everything the group owned available to tinker with, and tinker they did!

Monica and Hillary started off experimenting with the new embossing powders and Christmas stencil with some good results.

Hillary’s Trees on fabric

Monica tried the stencil on fabric and card and Jan cut a tree on her Sissix machine and Monica then added a small glittery tree in the centre

And….. the main learning point from this exercise was that if you get distracted you might scorch your fabric – hey ho.

After a coffee and a chat Caroline was absorbed with print blocks……

As were Salinder and Keris

Keris also printed some beautiful leaves with leaves that she had picked up from Cardiff yesterday

Corinne was busy embellishing a wall hanging that she started at a previous session – which looks beautiful

And she even got time to have a go at the linocut printing

Jan had a productive day with her Sissix machine

And Isobelle played around with her glue gun and the heat gun

Chris was quietly engrossed in making labels for the many Christmas presents she will be giving. She was also enjoying the embossing powders and the Wow pen for text

Monica’s main focus of the day was printing with a linocut that she had recently made. There were samples in card and fabric

In fact, some of her samples were soon turned into Christmas cards

And finally, Hillary had been beavering away at home to finish her Chistmas Tree wall hanging – how smart is that!!!

At this month’s Cutting Edge session a number of members were busy making a Christmas tree wall hanging ready to hang over the festive season. And whilst everyone was using the same pattern they were all looking very different.

Hillary had reshaped hers from a long rectangle to a square which looked very effective.

Sandra had used green silk and was at the stage of adding her gold diamante which she discovered was quite challenging – and frustating at times – but she persevered and it looks stunning

Chris was busy sewing down the farbric swirls on her tree ….

Chris and Keris

and Liz was adding the diamante

Lesley was a little frustrated that her bondaweb wouldn’t adhere to her fabric – but kept smiling!

By the end of the day there were a few completed trees – fabulous

And, whilst Dilys wasn’t able to join us today she was busy at home completing her tree!

We wish Dilys a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing her at the next meeting

Whilst some were busy ‘doing trees’ others were busy sewing and catching up on the gossip

And, as usual there were some wonderful pieces of work to share at show and tell

Chris had made some fun cushions for grand children using fabric that she had painted at Dyeing to Paint. It was great to see the hand painted fabric being used.

Corinne shared a beautiful embroidered wreath that she had completed

Helen had been to France on a Sheena Norquay course and showed the pieces that she had made there

And Hilary showed everyone a little angel that she had made.

We were pleased to welcome Marie Austin as a new member of the group. Marie was busy making a quilt for her sister.

As ever, a productive day and we look forward to seeing more of the Christmas wallhangings completed in the weeks to come.

Today, a small but perfectly formed group met to play with the Sissix and Scan and Cut machine and made headway in creating some unique cards for those special friends.

Corinne and Keris hit the jackpot by cutting fabric on the scan and cut machine without much hassle – well initially anyway.

They then moved on to card making with some fantastic results

Fiona had success in creating frames for the Christmas trees that she had block printed and free machine embroidered. She also brought along sone lovely die cuts and stencils which were popular with the group.

Monica cut out labels on the Scan and Cut machine then added a die cut embellishment.

Liz was well prepared and made some lovely cards. The stag card was innovative. She used a stencil to spray gold stags in the background and then added a die cut stag which had been made with her hand painted card.

Yvonne was busy cutting labels and shapes to take home for more inventive work but produced lovely cards made from squares of paper. A popular design introduced by Corinne

Caroline enjoyed painting card and put it to good use with some beautiful creations….

And, Glynis was on a mission cutting out bunting and letters – looking forward to seeing the completed project soon!

So much to play with and still more – the stamps and heatwave pen hardly got a look in!

A very enjoyable and productive day was had by all – well done everyone!

Pat Hixon is currently sunning herself in Portugal and has sent the following message:

“Thinking of you all at Cutting Edge from a very hot and sunny Algarve.
This is one of my hand projects that I brought out here to start sometime over the 3 weeks. It is called Dancing Dresses and each dress uses a 10″ square of fabric, and a 10” square of background. It is designed to use up fat quarters.

I am hoping to make one for each of my 3 grand daughters, and the plan is that the two destined for Brisbane will be tropical.

At the moment I am not sure whether to make each into a wall hanging or a lap quilt. Watch this space”.
Pat H

Nights are drawing in and the group are busily creating the most beautiful pieces of work – which was very evident at todays CE meeting.

But before we oohed and aahed at the beautiful works of art that were on show we welcomed Yvonne Randall who brought along some lovely bits of haberdashery and fabric to tempt us. She also demonstrated her Accucut machine and die cuts which was great fun.

Yvonne Randall

And we welcomed Chris Morfett as a new member to the group. She is known to many in the group already for the lovely miniature teddies that she makes. For example, at today’s show and tell she showed the group a beautiful quilt that she has just completed.

Chris D brought in a cross stitch of her grandfather which was absolutley stunning. She had taken it to St Fagan’s to show them.

She had also been busy making underwear travel bags for grandchildren and adult family members which looked like fun items to have in your suitcase

Gilly had made a cute little knitting bag for a friend

Keris and Corinne reported that they had recently been to the Kirsty Allsop handmade fair at Hampton Court. They showed tea towels that they had printed

Corinne’s towel

Isobelle’s piece was work in progress. She had painted the fabric for her wall hanging with transfer art paints and is now busy stitching into it. Looking lovely Isobelle!

Hilary showed a piece that she recently completed at a textile workshop

Fiona showed a beautiful bag, needle case and pin cushion that she had made. She has offered to run a workshop to show how to make the bags so watch this space!

Sylvana was busy basting a quilt together to give as a gift to a family member.

And Salider had two beautiful quilts to show

Sone were busy focusing on Christmas. As well as making this beautiful bag Marie was busy making Christmas wall hangings.

And Caroline was on a mission to get stuck into her Chrsitmas tree wall hanging. Caroline was the focus of attention as many of the group will be making one at the November session

Finally, Monica thanked Hilary for her contribution to CE over the last 5 years as she has now stepped down from running the group.

And then Monica gave an update on the recent WW1 quilt exhibitions in Old hall Cowbridge and Giles Gallery Pontyclun and announced that the quilts would once again be displayed in Cowbridge shops to support the British Legion appeal. They will be in the shop windows between 31 October and 14 November 2016. Shops that have generously offered window space include ty Hafan Emporium, David Barnes Dry Cleaners, Costa Coffee, Beauty Within and Jon Ian shoes. Hilary also gave an update on her initiative to make Big Poppies to complement the WW1 quilts and Poppy Appeal

Well, Dyeing to Paint today was certainly interesting and productive with a variety of activities going on. Some continued working on last month’s theme of Autumn. Isobelle had started to put together an autumnal wall hanging and was busy making leaves for it.

Monica was on a mission to paint fabric and card for Christmas cards which soon captured other people’s interest

Monica’s card

Keris produced some lovely fabric that we suspect will feature in Christmas cards soon….

Corinne was working along the same lines colouring card and a music sheet

and Liz turned her fabric green!

Liz and Jan also started a craze with the Sissix machine using some of the painted card to cut out stags heads and Christmas trees. Jan was busy cutting out bunting shapes and letters and showed that it was possible to cut out fabric with a small die. Well done Jan.

And Isobelle finished the afternoon off by experimenting with embossing powder to enhance a card design.

So many things going on and so many ideas for the Sissix Day on 19 October! We are going to have so much fun!!!!

We need to think about a washing line for next month though. Our current drying facilities aren’t going to work so well in the winter!